Episode 9.16

“Blade Runners” ReviewBy Annie Kenney

After this week’s episode I had but one thought in my mind and that was ‘if I were Sam I would be so damn worried right about now’!

I loved this episode and thought it was one of the best ones I’ve seen for quite a while. It moved the mythology forward, it had lots of wonderful brothers (and Crowley) moments and it featured an extremely creepy baddie who was a lot more scary than he looked.

Let me take a moment to say just how much I adore Crowley; Mark Sheppard is fantastic and has really made this character his own. I am hoping and praying that the powers that be do not kill him off! It would be so very wrong as he is now an integral part of the Supernatural cast and mythology.

The fact that Crowley was addicted to human blood was a great plot device; it was thought-provoking to see how human blood affected him and, for those of us with long memories, it was an interesting contrast between that and Sam’s demon blood addiction in Season 4. Demon blood gave Sam more power while human blood drained Crowley of his. I rather liked Crowley as a human being and his mischievous behaviour gave the episode some much needed humour.

Crowley’s interaction with both brothers was central to this episode; I adore that when Dean rang his name came up as ‘Not Moose’. I loved that Sam was so irritated with human Crowley but I was disappointed that Sam didn’t have any empathy with his addiction because you would have thought he might have! It also upset me that Sam was so keen to actually kill Crowley. I guess that I have too much affection for a character who is, essentially, a villain and foolishly I think that Sam and Dean must feel the same (they clearly don’t!) That said I don’t think Dean wants to kill Crowley so it is only Sam who is being Mr Grumpy Pants!

The brothers appeared to be a lot more together this week and were actually acting a lot like brothers again rather than partners. There were several incidences when one or the other asked ‘What have you done to my brother?’ and that made me happy (although I’m not sure this happiness will last very long given the circumstances.)

Creepy Magnus was a good, old fashioned slimy baddie and it was a good twist that he collected supernatural objects. I liked the fact he had, seemingly, a million spells up his sleeves. Not liking that Sam got captured (again) and tied up (again) because that was a tad frustrating. Sam is getting to be quite the damsel in distress and it would be nice to see him being the rescuer for a change.

And now we come to the First Blade and the mark of Cain; was anyone else scared when Dean took the blade for the first time? I certainly was and if I was Sam (who was actually doing research on Cain & Abel the first brothers) I would be looking over my shoulder right about now. (I would also be trying to make friends with my brother again!) Seeing Dean in the blade’s thrall was absolutely terrifying and it is clear that Dean is going to be affected by the blade and, therefore, his reasoning is going to be in question from now on. I think that Dean fans who have often asked for him to be part of the mytharc must be jumping up and down right now because Dean is smack bang in the middle of it! As a regular viewer it would be very satisfying if Sam is FINALLY the one who saves Dean (that is if Dean doesn’t end up using the blade on Sam – something that has worried me since the start of this storyline). What was interesting (and excellent) was that it was Sam that bought Dean back so to speak and it was Sam that carried the blade right out of Magnus’s lair.

It was good to see everything back on track; the search for the First Blade, the Mark of Cain, Abbadon, all of them were addressed during this episode and it did make me wonder where all of this would be heading. (I think it is going to be very dark and very scary).

It is obvious that this episode was the start of what is to come and, as usual, the writers are beginning to get us on the edge of our seats worrying and wondering…

I can’t wait to see what happens next but I think I am going to be watching through my fingers from now on!